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Dec 18 (Reuters) - European shares inched lower on Friday as
doubts over a post-Brexit trade deal and fresh U.S.-China
tensions capped gains at the end of a solid week.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX slipped 0.2% by
0808 GMT, easing from a near 10-month high hit in the previous
session, while the German DAX .GDAXI and France's CAC 40
.FCHI also lost about 0.2% each.
Losses in UK's exporter-heavy index .FTSE were limited by
a slide in the pound after Britain and European Union
negotiators warned that they remained far apart on a number of
issues and that it was becoming more likely they would fail to
reach an agreement. .L
Travel & leisure stocks .SXTP were the biggest decliners
in early European trading, with British Airways-owner IAG
ICAG.L slipping 1.0% after a media report that it had agreed
to buy Spanish carrier Air Europa for 500 million euros ($612.55
million).
Dutch health technology firm Philips PHG.AS rose 1.3%
after it agreed to buy U.S. cardiac diagnostics and monitoring
firm BioTelemetry BEAT.O in a deal worth $2.8 billion.